My 24 Hours in Bali

First of all: life on Bali happens barefoot. Secondly: every day of mine starts with a warm shower in the outdoor bathroom of my studio in Pererenan, near Canggu. Afterwards I start up my scooter and get going to grab my first cup of coffee in the morning. I pass by large rice paddies and along avenues of palm trees – how can you not be in love with Bali?

The best coffee is served at the Hungry Bird in Berawa and every cup comes with a drawing in the milk foam. My coffees are usually decorated with the Woodybunch logo. 😉

Most of the time I spend a couple of hours here, because they have a good internet connection. This is also known to other travellers, so the place is always full of people working on their laptops – focused, usually still smiling nonetheless.

I look for a cosy spot to sit down, where I can start being a busy bee: dealing with the online shop, emails, invoices, and the graphic tuning of the website, as well as of the Instagram and Facebook feeds.

When I’m done, I meet my Indonesian agent at the wonderful Bungalow Living to talk about the fabrics, colours and patterns of the collection currently in production. Bungalow Living is not only somewhere to have an amazing breakfast, but also a fantastic place to find beautiful Balinese and Indian souvenirs. It’s a café, a home store and a gallery all in one. The place is bright and shiny, tastefully designed – in pastel colours – and with a great eye for detail.

For Lunch, I choose to eat at one of the typical Warungs in Canggu. Warungs are small family-owned businesses, often restaurants or cafés. One of my favourites is the Warung Kemangi in Berawa. Here, they serve the best ‘Ayam Lalapan’, chicken with rice and home-made salsa sauce, with fresh cucumber and cabbage on the side. You eat with the fingers of your right hand and you can wash your hands in the little pink bowl that comes with your meal. This is the real Balinese life, and I love it!

Happy and full to the brim, I feel like having sand between my toes and the sound of the waves in my ears, so Echo Beach is where I go next. I lie down for a little nap in one of the beach chairs in the shade. As soon as I wake up, I grab a fresh coconut from the Warung Ketut at the beach and enjoy it while watching the swell. I decide it’s time for a little surf as there’s a wealth of superb surf spots along the beach and the swell is just perfect.

Two hours later, exhausted but contented by a good session among the waves, I start driving to Your Time. This is my favourite spa in Canggu, and I treat myself to a full 60 minutes of pampering (of all the senses).

Before I head back to my flat, I pop into the Farm Hostel – the best hostel in the area – to see my friends and chat about the latest news on the island. At home, I jump into the pool and idly float in the water, listening to loud music by Edward Sharpe and Band of Horses.

In the late afternoon I let my creative streak unfold and play the guitar or paint.

Towards the evening, I ready myself and meet my friends at the Batu Bolong Beach, where we watch the sunset and have a beer. Sitting at the small booths of the locales, we talk about our day until it starts to get dark. We’re all hungry by now and have decided that the Warung Varuna will be our dinner joint for tonight. Sometimes we just stay at the beach and have a delicious Tom Kha Gai soup at Dian’s Café II.  Whenever I go out to eat, I do prefer the traditional Balinese Warungs however. Whatever you get there is healthy, tasty, supports the locals as well as your own purse. There are numerous other restaurants around of course, but unfortunately, a lot of the time the only Balinese thing about them is their chair cushions.

After dinner, we drive to the local supermarket in Berawa to buy a bottle of Anngur Merah. This is a sweet Balinese wine which has nothing to do with classic red wine, but which I still like a lot.

We all gather at a friend’s place, play the guitar, have some wine and sing along. I love that Balinese people sing, simply for the the joy of it, and don’t care how it sounds or even if they know the words. It is all about the moment of being together and making music, without feeling any fear or awkwardness. Unfortunately, Germans often tend to miss out on beautiful moments like these because they think too much.

Later on we feel like dancing and so he we head on to Deus, where they have live music in a terrific backyard atmosphere. At Pretty Poison, you can watch the best bowl-skaters from all over the world while listening to good music. Keep in mind, most of the clubs and bars in Canggu and the surroundings close at 1 AM.

I love all of this, because it feels so much like my kind of living. I end the day with a smile on my face. Bali is my happy place through and through, mostly because of how considerate and sensitive the Balinese people are.